When Congress left town 10 days ago for a Spring Break, the talk was about how both sides would cut a deal to avoid a government shutdown. Now the stories seem to be shifting to the exact opposite.
"Budget Impasse Increasing Risk of U.S Shutdown," was one familiar headline in recent days, as both parties used the past few days to try to set the stage for yet another round of finger pointing between the two parties.
In other words, we're back where we were five weeks ago, when the threat of a shutdown loomed.
Both sides want you, the voter, to believe that the other party is at fault.
While lawmakers were out of town for the last 10 days, key staffers in the House and Senate have been trying to work out a deal with the White House, but it has not produced an agreement, even on the basic bottom line of how much in budget cuts would be okayed for the rest of this year, let alone on the details.
Both sides want you, the voter, to believe that they other party is at fault.
"The Speaker knows that when it comes to avoiding a shutdown, his problem is with the Tea Party, not Democrats," jabbed Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY).
"If they have a plan, what is it?" asked Speaker John Boehner about the other party. "If Democrats don’t have a plan, do they intend to shut down the government because they can't agree among themselves?"
Both sides want you, the voter, to believe that they other party is at fault.
Meanwhile, activists on both sides are turning up the heat on a variety of issues.
This week will bring a Tea Party sponsored rally at the Capitol to press Congress for deeper budget cuts.
Democrats will offer up their own call to avoid cuts in social programs, and one former Congressman will start a hunger strike to protest Republican plans that could cut hunger related budget plans.
"We do need to cut the deficit and need to get our fiscal house in order. But not on the backs of the poor and hungry," says former Rep. Tony Hall of Ohio, who will be joined by others in the faith community on a water-only fast.
This isn't the first fast over hunger programs for Hall, who went 22 days without food back in 1993, to signal his opposition to the plans of his own Democratic Party to get rid of a special committee dealing with hunger issues.
"It was pretty lonely at first, but eventually 6,000 high schools and 200 universities joined me and the fast really caught on," Hall said last week.
We'll see how much attention it gets this time around, as the budget battle promises to be a very political one over the next two weeks.
Shutdown day is April 8.
